Dominance Struggle Following A Bath!?

[cheeseandpeas]

Ok, so new to the forum, go easy on me
I have two boar piggies aged 2 years Cheese and Peas, I've had them since they were 6 months, I was told they are brothers (they don't look the same) and have always been together. Anyway, today I got them out for a cuddle, I notice that Cheese has a swollen rear end (or just big balls!?), I checked his botty, it had some wood shavings stuck in it which I removed. So I gave them both a bath, separately, I never bathed them before so it's all new to us all. They had a hair cut and claw trim, perfect paw cream applied, grease gland cleaned the works. I returned them to their hutch once dry and all hell breaks loose, a lot of squeaking and teeth chattering, rearing up etc. Peas who is normally less dominant is humping Cheeses head repeatedly and Cheese really did not appreciate it! It got quite violent and Cheese was distressed so I have separated them now, Peas has moved downstairs and has a make shift bed area for the night. I hope I've done the right thing, I planned to reintroduce them tomorrow in their run. They have settled down now. Any advice welcome. I wondered if I had washed away their smell and Peas no longer accepts Cheese as the dominant one?

 

[cheeseandpeas]

I reintroduced them this morning with a soft toy as a humping alternative, I really hope they settle down, they've always been best buddies

 

[Wiebke]

I hope that things have calmed down again. A new scent and a freshly cleaned hutch can look like new territory for some boars and will trigger dominance behaviour t re-establish the hierarchy. Perhaps you give your boys a little wipe with a smelly rag after the bath and leave something with their scent on it in the hutch from now on to make sure that it is still "theirs"?

 

[cheeseandpeas]

Thanks, they've settled back down now thankfully, but they do still get frisky and do a lot of head raising and chasing in the evenings. Thanks for the reply, I was a bit worried they might not get over it!